18 Weeks

We had our 18 week scan this morning, and to say it was wonderful is an understatement!

The question that’s always at the forefront of my mind when we have scans is “How long is my cervix?” Today, knowing my cervical length was even more important than ever. At exactly the same gestation in our last pregnancy it had dramatically reduced to 1.1cm, and I was booked in for an emergency TVC the next morning.

The great news? My cervix is measuring 4.66cm! We were both so, so relieved. I had been getting very anxious about today’s appointment, and was thrilled to see those numbers on the screen. The sonographer laughed at me a little as I requested an internal scan to check the cervical length accurately. Most women probably cringe at the thought of an internal scan, but not me…I want accuracy! She also laughed and remarked that I was “very knowledgeable” when she stated that both placentas were away from the cervix which is a good thing, and I said “Oh great, so no sign of Placenta Previa”. Doesn’t everyone know what that is? I suppose some pregnant women might be naïve as to what can go wrong, especially if it’s their first, but I like to research everything!

She then asked Dr M to come in and do a quick scan himself. Dr M is the Director of the ultrasound clinic and one of the best sonographers in the state. He usually just reviews all the scan results, and only scans the high risk patients.

At our 15 week scan, Dr M found an issue that caused some concern. He found a pleural effusion on the left lung of Twin 1. Basically, a pleural effusion is excess fluid in the lung, and in our baby’s case, it was quite a lot of fluid. He explained what this could mean. It could be nothing and it may resolve itself; it could be a chromosomal abnormality such as Down Syndrome; it could be fetal anemia; it could be a viral infection or it could be a congenital lung defect. It was a lot to take in. He offered us an amniocentesis which would determine whether it was a chromosomal abnormality. We immediately declined the amnio. If it did indicate Down Syndrome, it wouldn’t affect our decision to carry to term, so we didn’t see the point at putting our babies at risk. I did however call my OB to have blood tests carried out to rule out any sign of infection, which came back negative. All we could do was wait until the 18 week scan…and boy was it a long 3 weeks.

So back to today’s scan. The first thing Dr M checked was Twin 1’s lung. The fluid was GONE! Such a huge relief that he was okay. Dr M also re-checked my cervical length and was very impressed with my TAC. It appeared to be the first he had seen as he spent 16 MINUTES looking at it!! His words were that it was a “beautiful looking cervix” and a “beautifully placed stitch”! He knew a lot about TVCs, but I happily educated him on TACs. Dr M showed us the two dimensional view of the stitch and it looked like a perfect circle, and he recorded the footage of my TAC for his own use. Happy to get the word out there!

So all in all…a wonderful scan!

Both babies are measuring bigger than an average singleton at 18 weeks, which is great for twins!

Twin 1 - Weight is 247 grams. Heartbeat is 147 beats per minute.




Twin 2 - Weight is 241 grams. Heartbeat is 141 beats per minute.




They were wriggling around so much today, that it was hard to get clear pics of them. Because we didn’t get too many pics, here is a look at what an actual 18 week old fetus looks like in utero, photographed by Lennart Nillson.